Keep your friends close and your enemies closer
As we collect, store and process more and more data, the internet of things (IoT) gets a bigger role in our lives. Before you know it there is no need to bring your wallet to the groceries store anymore , you can simply use your phone (apple pay, venmo etc). Or even when you arrive home after a stressful day, just say the magic words to your artificial intelligent assistant (apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Echo etc) and you will set the mood for whatever you feel like doing.
It is truly amazing how technology can make our lives easier and simplify our day-to-day tasks, such as checking the weather before leaving the house or riding the fastest road to work. But there is one question that is worth asking: how all this huge amount of information (Big Data) is being stored?
Cloud Storage:
The “cloud” is a real trending topic in tech world right now. In fact, is very likely that you have already used cloud storing without even noticing. Streaming services such as Netflix, YouTube and Flickr they use this kink of storage. The same applies for e-mail services like Hotmail, Gmail for instance. And let’s not forget about the banking apps, all of these companies use cloud storing assistance to better treasure their costumers data [1].
Essentially, cloud computing covers storing tasks using the internet. It pushes all costumers, business or media information from personal computers into a warehouse replete with servers and storing capacity.
Google’s data Center [2]
Now imagine that you own a data driven company with lots of sensitive costumer’s information. First you will have to spend some money on computer infrastructure based on what you think you will need. Moreover, your Information Technology (IT) team would be bigger (salary expenses). Additionally, for last and arguably the most important issue is cybersecurity. Besides your regular IT team you would have to hire or outsource expertise on this matter and also software to prevent breaches.
So it really comes handy for companies to purchase cloud storing services. You will pay for usage, there is no upfront investment, less salary expenses and outsourced data security. However, cloud computing companies, such as Amazon Web Services, Windows Azure and iCloud have a huge engagement regarding cybersecurity. The success of their businesses is based on speed, price and security.
One of the main adopted strategies for fighting cyber attacks is ethic hacking. You may wonder “what on earth is this?”. Well, cyber hacking is the old strategy of bringing your enemies closer to you. According to JB Straubel [3] – Tesla’s Co-Founder and CTO – since most hackers don’t do it because they want to do harm or sell stolen information but for the guilty pleasure of being the best on what they do, it is possible work with them. Usually hackers find security breaches that your team would not be able to to do so. Finally, cloud computing companies award ethic hacking, the practice of pointing out pain points in your IT structure.
[1] . https://www.howitworksdaily.com/cloud-storage-what-is-it-and-how-does-it-work/
[2] . https://c.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/google-datacenter-tech-13.jpg
[3] . https://canvas.stanford.edu/files/1962133/download?download_frd=1
4 comments on “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer”
Comments are closed.
Currently Arthur is working as a Project Manager Officer (PMO) for the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) team at Lojas Quero-Quero. The retail company is controlled by the private equity fund Advent International.
One of the interesting “Big Data/IOT” concepts that’s being evaluated right now is Amazon’s Go store (https://www.amazon.com/b?node=16008589011). The customer swipes their phone to enter the store and then merely picks up everything they need and leaves without paying. The sensors built into the store recognize what you’re taking and charge your credit card automatically. While the concept is fascinating and has numerous applications, the security and charging implications are very concerning. How does it account for two people picking up something at the same time? Or if someone replaces an item after picking it up?
Nice post!!
I agree that using cloud storage services of one of these large companies, such as Amazon Web Services, Windows Azure and iCloud would be much more safe and cheaper, since they invest a lot to have a proper and safe security.
On the other hand, I wonder if these companies, for being so huge and known all over the world, don’t get more susceptible to hacker attacks.
The strategy JB Straubel point out during his speech is something that could improve safety in companies. Knowing that they are working together with hackers to find breaks on their system makes me feel safer.
Thank you for your blog post, Arthur. The cell phone has become a Swiss army knife that we can use to do most functions — pay with, adjust Nest, watch security cameras, unlock and start your vehicle. Some of these functions have been set up so cell coverage is not required (using bluetooth.) Our life becomes simpler but I wonder if the centralization carries too much risk. If your phone is dead you can’t open your car, pay for anything, etc. If all functions are centralized in the phone then a reliable backup plan is needed in case the phone runs out of battery. Will that be the microchip implanted in our skin next? We shall see…
Hi Arthur,
Nice blog post! I Like your vision on this topic.
We’ve also been working with AWS and I like the way you bring the cloud consumer concerns. Will be interesting to see how data centers keep innovating their services and their security.
Cheers